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Dolphins’ general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan is facing heat for his statement after Tua Tagovailoa’s release
The Miami Dolphins have been busy early on this offseason, but the majority of their moves have seen them release players in order to free up cap space. The team’s biggest decision involved releasing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but by doing that, the Dolphins are actually losing over $11 million on their 2026 salary cap.
After he was benched late in the 2025 season, though, it became abundantly clear that Tagovailoa’s time with the team was coming to an end. In the wake of the team’s announcement on Monday that it would be releasing him, general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan issued a statement regarding the move, but he immediately faced backlash for his comments.
Jon-Eric Sullivan Criticized for Tua Tagovailoa Comments
Ever since the 2025 campaign wrapped up, Miami telegraphed its desire to move on from Tagovailoa to the rest of the league. No matter which way you sliced it, the Dolphins were going to have to eat a massive dead cap hit if they got rid of Tagovailoa, but Sullivan made it clear that the team would prefer to trade him rather than outright releasing him.
Unsurprisingly, no trade partner emerged for Tagovailoa, resulting in him getting designated as a post-June 1 release. Even with Tagovailoa’s $99.2 million dead cap hit getting spread out over the next two seasons, the team still actually lost over $11 million by releasing him. Furthermore, the Dolphins are paying Tagovailoa $53 million to not play for them next season.
As is typically the case, Sullivan released a statement thanking Tagovailoa for his contributions to the Dolphins before going on to say how much he respects the left-handed quarterback as both a player and a person. Those comments didn’t go over too well with fans, though, as NFL commentator Ross Tucker quickly noted that, considering the circumstances, it’s tough to say Sullivan has much respect for Tagovailoa at all.
“Jon-Eric Sullivan released a statement talking about how much respect he has for Tua as a person and as a player. Eh, not really. If you’re paying somebody $53 million to play somewhere else, in this case, Atlanta, you don’t have very much respect for him as a player. Let’s just be honest,” Tucker said on his “Ross Tucker Podcast.”
Tua Tagovailoa Quickly Finds New Home After Dolphins Release
GettyFormer Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa plans to sign with an NFC team
Folks can complain about the semantics of Tagovailoa’s release all they want, but that’s simply how things work in the NFL. Sullivan can be accused of not respecting Tagovailoa, but he literally just took over as the Dolphins’ general manager a couple of months ago. Could his wording in his statement have been better? Sure, but that’s probably the least of the team’s worries right now.
Tagovailoa likely isn’t losing much sleep over Sullivan’s comments, as he’s set to earn a boatload of money from him next season. Beyond that, he quickly found a new home in free agency, as the Atlanta Falcons scooped him up shortly after his release. Meanwhile, Miami appears to have found its replacement for Tagovailoa, as it signed Malik Willis to a three-year, $67.5 million contract shortly after the legal tampering period opened on Monday afternoon.
Owen Crisafulli Owen Crisafulli is a Breaking News Writer at Heavy. In addition to writing for Heavy, Owen works as a Content Producer for More Views Media. His work has also appeared on ClutchPoints, The Sporting News, Athlon Sports, Basketball Network, and FanSided, where he shared his insights on a variety of sports topics primarily surrounding the NFL, NBA, and MLB. More about Owen Crisafulli
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